political and policy basis - session 3 - u.s. hazards and disaster in the era of hs

Session No Course: The Political and Policy Basis of Emergency Management (2009 revised) Session: U.S Hazards and Disaster in the era of Homeland Security Time: Hours Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, students will be able to: 3.1 Explain what disasters and emergencies are in official terms 3.2 Demonstrate knowledge of the types of natural disasters, the types of technological disasters, and the varieties of conflict disorders 3.3 Summarize the different types of costs that disasters and emergencies impose on individuals, the Nation, State & local governments, and on society and how disasters and emergencies have been perceived by Americans over time 3.4 List some of the environmental and social reasons for the increasing cost and frequency of emergencies and disasters 3.5 List policy questions which disasters pose for Federal, State, and local officials, in general terms 3.6 List the criteria of disaster risk and vulnerability, based on the types of disaster incidents the United States has experienced Scope This session is a general survey of what disasters and emergencies are and why they often embody various forms of political activity It also points up the role of local, State, and Federal officials in responding to, and recovering from, disasters This will be one of the first sessions that will introduce the matter of public and private insurance, and this will be from the perspective of hazard risk and disaster vulnerability References Assigned student reading: Sylves, Richard T Disaster Policy and Politics Washington, DC: CQ Press, A Division of Congressional Quarterly, 2008 (Review Chapter Haddow, George D and Bullock, Jane A Introduction to Emergency Management 3nd Edition New York: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008 (Read Chapter 2) Optional: The instructor should review: Petak, William J., “Emergency Management: A Challenge for Public Administration,” Public Administration Review, Vol 45 Special Issue (January 1985):3-7 Requirements This session may offer a good opportunity for a guest speaker who works in State or local emergency management That individual (or the instructor) should outline the general types of duties and responsibilities assumed by emergency managers Remarks Objective 3.1 terms Explain what disasters and emergencies are in official Here some useful academic disaster terms: • Emergency: An unexpected event which places life and/or property in danger and requires an immediate response through the use of routine community resources and procedures Examples would be a multiautomobile wreck, especially when involving injury or death, or a fire caused by a lightning strike which spreads to other buildings • Mass Emergency: An unexpected or undesirable event which requires the resources of most of the municipal departments and limited assistance from outside agencies • Disaster: An event in which a community undergoes severe danger and incurs, or is threatened with, such losses to persons and/or property that the resources available within the community are exceeded In disasters, resources from beyond the local jurisdiction, that is, the State or Federal level, are required to meet the disaster demands An example would be Hurricane Floyd of 1999, which made landfall in North Carolina as a Category and moved up the entire east coast from there The storm produced extensive wind and rain damage as well as major flooding over states, each of which received a presidential declaration of major disaster Millions of people were without power for a period of days • Catastrophe: An event in which a society incurs, or is threatened with, such losses to persons and/or property that the entire society is affected and extraordinary resources and skills are required, some of which must come from other nations An example would be Hurricane Katrina in 2005 because thousands of people died and tens of thousands were injured, damage losses were in the range of $150 billion, and many sectors of the national economy were affected, including the energy sector as oil production in the Gulf was dealt a setback These are very useful academic definitions However, they are NOT precisely the definitions employed in Federal disaster policy, most particularly with respect to types of Presidential Disaster Declarations These are the fundamental definitions that American policymakers employ • MAJOR DISASTER: Any natural catastrophe (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or (regardless of the cause) any fire, flood, or explosion in any part of the United States which, in the determination of the President, causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under the Stafford Act in order to supplement the efforts and the available resources of the States, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby • EMERGENCY: Any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States There is usually a $5 million Federal spending cap on emergencies Incidents which require more than $5 million in Federal assistance ordinarily require a request for MAJOR DISASTER EMERGENCY ACTIONS involve emergency work that is essential to save lives and protect property and the public health and safety It is performed under Section 306 of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 [U.S Senate, 1995.] Objective 3.2 Demonstrate knowledge of the types of natural disasters, the types of technological disasters, and types of other types of human caused disaster besides those caused by technology failures According to Haddow, Bullock and Coppola’s chapter 2, natural, technological and other human-caused forms of disaster can be examined through hazards analysis, risk analysis, and disaster studies HAZARD = source of danger that may or may not lead to an emergency or disaster and is named after the emergency/disaster that could be so precipitated RISK = susceptibility to death, injury, damage, destruction, disruption, stoppage and so forth DISASTER = an event that demands substantial crisis response requiring the use of governmental powers and resources beyond the scope of one agency or line service The following list of hazards encapsulates most typical NATURAL HAZARDS encountered FLOOD DISASTERS Floods (riverine and coastal): Every state is at risk from flooding and the nation has some 21,000 communities at significant flood risk The 1993 Midwest Floods resulted in $15-20 billion in losses Annual flood damage is on the order of $4 billion See flood disasters table (Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola, third edition, p 29) Floods have a variable speed of onset They may emerge over a period of days or even weeks, or they may transpire as flash floods Flash floods usually take place during or after severe storms with heavy rainfall Floods are common in almost every nation of the world Floods may be triggered or aggravated by snowmelt or ice jams Flood vulnerability often stems from building homes, businesses, and other structures inside or adjacent to floodplains of rivers Flood warning is possible through stream gauging systems maintained by the U.S geological survey If you visit the U.S.G.S website entitled National Water Information System, http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt you can find real team stream flows in almost any river in the U.S Even in your own communities Remember that flooding is often a byproduct of tropical storms and hurricanes It is possible to buy insurance protection for your home or business through the National Flood Insurance Program, something we will learn more about later Federal agencies extremely active in flood mitigation are the National Insurance Administration of FEMA (the organization that operates the National Flood Insurance Program), the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (that builds and maintains vast systems of dikes, levees, flood control works, reservoirs, and some dams), the Bureau of Reclamation (inside the Interior Department, an agency that manages a large number of major dams in mostly western states), the National Weather Service, and FEMA Flood politics at the Federal level is often the politics of competition among legislators to ensure that federal funding is directed to supporting the construction and maintenance of structural flood works projects in their states and congressional districts More on this in session 17 EARTHQUAKE and VOLCANIC DISASTERS Earthquakes involve, in simple terms, rapid ground shaking Without delving into physical geography to greatly, it is important for you to know that earthquakes can occur at any time and are capable of producing widespread damage, and in zones near their epicenter, intense damage Quakes may owe their origins to volcanic activity, plate tectonic movement, the failure of underground fault lines, ground subsidence, and for other reasons Volcanic eruptions occur when the pressure from gases and molten rock becomes strong enough to cause an explosion or a major outpour of lava You need to know that four our purposes volcanoes are of two types: EXPLOSIVE, like Vesuvius that buried ancient Pompeii, and EFFUSIVE, like Mt Etna in Italy that regularly produces major lava outflows Volcanic activity can trigger LAHARS, which are mountain side snow melts that flood surrounding rivers around the base of the mountain They may also produce PYROCLASTIC flows of super hot gases and ash that may move with great speed and force over the ground The Mount St Helens volcano, located in eastern Washington State, erupted in 1980 and resulted in 60 deaths and $1.5 billion in damage The nation's most active volcano areas are in Hawaii and Alaska Volcanic activity is possible in many "lower 48" western states, especially California, Oregon, and Washington State Earthquakes not only damage above ground infrastructure, but they often destroy or extensively damage sub-surface infrastructure (pipelines, water and sewer lines, natural gas lines, copper and fiber optic telephone and Internet lines, the foundations of buildings, bridges, roads, etc.) Seismic zones have been identified and classified, in part through the work of geoscientists with the U.S Geological Survey Ironically, scientific knowledge about what causes earthquakes is quite sophisticated Technology to measure earthquakes when they occur, regardless of location, is remarkable You may observe a quake reading in the central Pacific on a seismography back on the east coast of the U.S Scientists use the Richter Scale and the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale to measure the destructive force of an earthquake Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola, third edition, provide you information about the Mercalli Scale (p 32), but the table below from Wikipedia may be helpful Ask students to become familiar with what happens in each category from to on the Richter Scale Richter magnitudes Events with magnitudes of about 4.5 or greater are strong enough to be recorded by seismographs all over the world The following table describes the typical effects of earthquakes of various magnitudes near the epicenter This table should be read with extreme caution, since intensity and thus ground effects depend not only on the magnitude, but also on the distance to the epicenter, and geological conditions (certain terrains can amplify seismic signals) Descriptor Richter Magnitudes Earthquake Effects Frequency of Occurrence Microearthquakes, not felt About 8,000 per day Very minor 2.0-2.9 Generally not felt, but recorded About 1,000 per day Minor 3.0-3.9 Often felt, but rarely causes damage 49,000 per year (est.) Light 4.0-4.9 Noticeable shaking of indoor items, rattling noises Significant damage unlikely 6,200 per year (est.) Moderate 5.0-5.9 Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions At most slight damage to well-designed buildings 800 per year Strong 6.0-6.9 Can be destructive in areas up to about 100 miles across in populated areas 120 per year Major 7.0-7.9 Can cause serious damage over larger areas 18 per year Great 8.0-8.9 Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred miles across per year Rare great 9.0 or greater Devastating in areas several thousand miles across per 20 years Micro Less than 2.0 (Adapted from U.S Geological Survey documents.) Southern California’s 1994 Northridge earthquake, a category 7.0, resulted in 57 deaths and over $20 billion in damages Every state is at risk from earthquakes, with the risk running from minor, through moderate, to severe Earthquakes pose a significant risk in 39 states Students need to understand that “earthquake prediction” is still a very inexact science Geoscientists are striving to predict the risk of earthquake and the location of probable earthquake activity The top geoscientists in the world can only offer general odds of when a great magnitude earthquake will occur, usually over a period of decades Sometimes, a quake itself is a precursor of a large seismic event, but not always Also, sometimes predictions of sizable post-earthquake aftershocks prove valid In spite of the fact that earthquakes can occur anywhere in the U.S., California, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington State, and other states the five states listed have had the most recent experience with highly destructive earthquakes As a result, there is a fairly well organized and politically influential base of “earthquake interests” in those states, who often lobby the federal government to fund seismic research and to provide for generous post-quake disaster assistance HURRICANE DISASTERS Hurricanes “start as tropical waves that grow in intensity and size to tropical depressions, and then into tropical storms.” (Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola, third edition, p 33) Tropical storms have wind speeds between 39 and 74 miles per hour A hurricane “is a tropic storm with winds that have reached a constant speed of 74 mph or more Remember, cyclonic tropical storms with formed central “eyes” and with speeds above 74 mph are referred to in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf areas as HURRICANES The exact same phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean region is called a TYPHOON The exact same phenomenon in the Indian Ocean region is called a CYCLONE Occasionally people in South East Asia refer to hurricanes as either typhoons or cyclones Those of you interested in international subjects need to know that hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones are more common in the northern hemisphere, but this phenomenon has sometimes occurred in the southern hemisphere Hurricanes can grow to vast proportions Some may be 400 to 500 miles long Hurricane Florence now gaining strength in the Atlantic has a cloud formation extending some 1000 miles In 1992, Hurricane Andrew resulted in about $30 billion in damages in Florida and Louisiana In summer and fall 2005, a hugely hurricane year for the U.S., Hurricane Katrina killed an estimated 2000 people and caused some $100 to $200 billion in damage More than 50 million Americans live near hurricane-prone coastlines See Table 2-3 in Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola, third edition, p 35 Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale See Saffir-Simpson Scale (Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola, third edition, p 34.) The SaffirSimpson Hurricane Scale is a scale classifying most Western Hemisphere tropical cyclones that exceed the levels of "tropical depression" and "tropical storm" and thereby become hurricanes; the "categories" it divides hurricanes into are distinguished by the intensities of their respective sustained winds The classifications are intended primarily for use in gauging the likely damage and flooding a hurricane will cause upon landfall The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale is used only to describe hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean and northern Pacific Ocean east of the International Date Line Other areas label their tropical cyclones as "cyclones" and "typhoons", and use their own classification schemes The five categories are, in order of increasing intensity: Category Category Sustained winds 33–42 m/s Storm surge 4–5 ft 74–95 mph 119–153 km/h 1.2–1.5 m Central pressure 28.94 inHg 980 mbar No real damage to building structures Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, Potential damage and trees Also, some coastal flooding and minor pier damage Example storms Bess (1974) – Jerry (1989) – Ismael (1995) – Danny (1997) – Gaston (2004) Sustained winds 43–49 m/s Storm surge 6–8 ft 96–110 mph 83–95 kt 154–177 km/h 1.8–2.4 m Central Pressure 28.50–28.91 inHg 965–979 mbar Some roofing material, door, and window damage Considerable damage to vegetation, mobile homes, Potential damage etc Flooding damages piers and small craft in unprotected anchorages may break their moorings Example storms Carol (1954) – Diana (1990) – Erin (1995) – Marty (2003) – Juan (2003) Sustained winds 50–58 m/s Storm surge 9–12 ft 111–130 mph 96–113 kt 178–209 km/h 2.7–3.7 m Central pressure 27.91–28.47 inHg Category 64–82 kt 945–964 mbar Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings, with a minor amount of curtainwall failures Mobile homes are destroyed Potential damage Flooding near the coast destroys smaller structures with larger structures damaged by floating debris Terrain may be flooded well inland Example storms Category Sustained winds Storm surge Alma (1966) – Alicia (1983) – Roxanne (1995) – Fran (1996) – Isidore (2002) 59–69 m/s 131–155 mph 13–18 ft Central pressure 27.17–27.88 inHg 114–135 kt 210–249 km/h 4.0–5.5 m 920–944 mbar More extensive curtainwall failures with some complete roof structure failure on small Potential damage residences Major erosion of beach areas Terrain may be flooded well inland Example storms "Galveston" (1900) – Hazel (1954) – Iniki (1992) – Iris (2001) – Charley (2004) Sustained winds ≥70 m/s Storm surge ≥19 ft Central pressure